Sunday, March 24, 2013

From The Ukrainian Weekly, April 4, 2010 (If you don't subscribe to it yet -- do so! http://www.ukrweekly.com/ )

WATCH THE WHACKING WILLOWS… AND OTHER STRANGE THINGS

Orysia Paszczak Tracz

The man ahead of me in line to receive the loza on Kvitna Nedilia (Flower, or Palm Sunday) looked bewildered. He got the myrovannia (anointing with oil on the forehead), and his fat pussywillow
branch, and as he was headed towards the exit, watched the members of
the congregation hitting each other (gently, of course) with the
branches, and smiling and reciting something. The people
who already received the branches even went back through the pews to
gently hit the ones who were still waiting in line. Then I did it to him, and he was really confused. He had no idea what was going on! I
explained to him that this was a special ritual for Ukrainian Palm
Sunday, and that it meant that Easter and spring were coming, and also
meant a wish for health. He smiled and thanked me for the information, saying that now he understood. The man was clearly not Ukrainian, but loves the service, the singing, and the rituals, and comes every Sunday. I’m not sure what he’ll think about people bringing baskets of food to church on Easter.

He is not the first person to be confused and confounded about our old but new ways. There really is an explanation for all this. What is admirable and amazing is that these rituals, well modified to suit the present, are still carried out at all.

In the olden days, we had Ukrainians sleeping on the stove/oven – ok, the pich (peech) – an appliance/piece of furniture pretty difficult to explain in English. Then
you have young folks dumping pails of water on each other on the second
day of Easter (nowadays, the SuperSoaker works so much better). At
Midsummer’s Night (Kupalo to us) they also jump over bonfires, alone or
holding hands with a significant other. On special feast days, rolling around in the early morning dew in your birthday suit was also very common and beneficial. The
jumping over bonfires at Kupalo is no longer birthday-suit-obligatory,
as it used to be extremely long ago [that wouldn’t go over too well with
the camp uprava, eh?]. Of course, in the weeks after
Easter, there will be services, and food and drink in the cemeteries, on
the graves of the departed. This is reminiscent of El Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead, the honoring of ancestors also from time immemorial. And
I am sure many of us still follow our mother’s ritual of burying the
eggshells and other remnants of the Easter breakfast deep in the garden. With composting being so popular now, we’re really “with it” – but then, we’ve always been, right?

These are all traditions and rituals from our ancient past, from pre-Christian times. They each had particular reasons, purposes, and symbolism for the actions. The power of traditions has kept them alive through all the persecution and hardship of our people through the centuries. The
fact that these strange and often not well understood actions are still
done so enthusiastically and so willingly by people far-removed by time
and place from their ancestral homeland shows how indeed powerful
tradition is. We continue to write our pysanky and bake our paska and babka for Velykden’ [Great Day – a pre-Christian name that survived, and is still the Ukrainian name for Easter]. We
sit down to the Easter breakfast and share the slices of the one egg (a
symbol of the togetherness of the family) and go to church to watch the
hahilky [ritual spring round-dances]. At Christmas, we
reverently sit down for the special Sviata Vechera [Holy Supper] of
twelve dishes, leaving that empty chair and place setting for our
ancestors. At weddings today, the couple stands on a
rushnyk [ritual cloth] and has its hands ceremonially bound with a
rushnyk by the priest, and often the “crowns” on the couple’s heads are
wreaths of barvinok (periwinkle). These rituals – and so
many more -- are practiced in Canada, the USA, Brazil, the Balkans,
other countries in Europe, Australia, the far east of Russia in Zelenyi
Klyn, as well as in the homeland itself. Some of the
modifications that have emerged in Ukraine are quaint or even bizarre,
but then some of the ones in the other places are pretty strange, too. But
the thought is there, as is the inherent desire to carry out an action
that connects us to our distant, very distant ancestors. We are very
rich, indeed.

Dear friends,

Have been behind with my posts. A dead computer will do that. Then to get used to the new laptop, and transfer everything and all that...... Hoping to keep up now. Have to many projects on the go.... I never learn.

For now, here are some of my articles on Easter [Velykden'in Ukrainian - Great Day] from years ago. This doesn't change.

Will post more later. How nice that my "Paska and Babka Forever"article is so popular with my readers.

Wonder where the parishes in Winnipeg who celebrate on the new calendar will be getting their pussy willows for today -- still much snow out there! And then, for the old calendar, the folks may need to travel far north to find them -- may be too warm here in May?

Monday, March 4, 2013

There is still time to register for this year's specialized tour to Ukraine (August 22-Sept. 8) with me as your "glorious leader" -- as one group named me.

You can travel on your own (we all become friends and family) or you can bring a friend, relative, or significant other -- or a tribe -- as the Marykuca/Torbiak family did a few years ago. This is Marvin's travel tale:

Follow by Email

ABOUT ME

I'm a writer, translator, and speaker, mostly on things Ukrainian. People often turn to me for information on Ukrainian traditions, costumes, culture, and all related "stuff." If I don't know, I try to find out. On this blog, will share links to my various articles on (hopefully) interesting topics.
I retired from the University of Manitoba Libraries in September 2010. Have been trying to catch up to myself every since (the story of my life)....

Prairie Fire -- "Echoes from Ukrainian Canada."Special issue on Ukrainian Canadian literature, October 1992. Co-initiator of issue and member of guest editorial board.One non-fiction work and one review.

Spirit of Ukraine:500 Years of Ukrainian Painting.Winnipeg:Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1991.Co-editor (one of four) and translator.

Carpathia Credit Union -- 50 Years of Service to the Community.Winnipeg:Carpathia Credit Union, 1990.Co-author with Dr. Halyna Muchin.

Writer of three anniversary brochures for the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Winnipeg:1972, English text; 1979, Ukrainian text; 1982, Ukrainian and English text.

Over 400 published articles in numerous publications -- The Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, Prairie Fire, University of Manitoba Alumni Journal, Prairie Garden, Canadian [Antiques] Collector, Forum: a UkrainianReview, and -- columnist for The UkrainianWeekly (Parsippany, New Jersey).

SOME OF MY LECTURE SUBJECTS

Why We Do What We Do:Origins and Symbolism of Ukrainian Traditions

Baba Was Right All Along: Ukrainian Folk Medicine

Songs Your Mother Should Never Have Taught You?Erotic Symbolism in Ukrainian Folk Songs

Konopli - Hemp in Ukrainian Tradition and Life

Perogies on the Prairies: from Ukrainian Village to Mainstream Canada

Origins of Ukrainian Traditions

Ukrainian Wedding Traditions in Manitoba (and general)

Pysanky - Ukrainian Easter Eggs and What They Mean

Ukrainian Christmas

Symbolism in Ukrainian Songs and in Folk Art

Free-for-all re Things Ukrainian

My 15th Folk Art and Culture Tour of Ukraine in 2012

The dates for 2013 are Aug. 22-Sept. 8. Please book early.

Folks are asking about this tour -- word of mouth is good! But if you are interested, act quickly to be sure to go. You'll need to reserve with Martha Banias at The Great Canadian Travel Company, and also be sure that your passport is not within 6 months of expiring at the time of the trip!